Just Breathe — Mindful Breathing Exercises for Calm and Focus

Breathing exercises, in 60+ languages, free

Just Breathe is a free, ad-free guide to evidence-based breathing exercises for anxiety, stress, sleep, and focus. The exercises are paced by a calm visual animation so you can follow each inhale, hold, and exhale without staring at a counter. Choose how you feel — anxious, stressed, or tired — and the right technique loads instantly, in the language you set on the device.

The techniques are not new — they come from decades of research in respiratory physiology, biofeedback, and contemplative traditions. The interface is what is new: a single, quiet place to use them on demand, no signup, no paywall, no tracking.

Popular breathing techniques

• Box breathing — a 4-4-4-4 square pattern used by Navy SEALs and ER nurses to bring an anxious mind back to baseline.
• 4-7-8 breathing — Dr. Andrew Weil's relaxing breath with a long, calming exhale; the go-to for falling asleep faster.
• Coherent breathing — a 5-second-in, 5-second-out cadence that puts the cardiovascular system into resonance.
• Diaphragmatic breathing — belly breathing that re-engages the diaphragm and undoes years of shallow chest breathing.
• Alternate nostril breathing — nadi shodhana, a balancing pranayama practice that centres without sedating.

Why it works

Slow, deliberate breathing — especially with a long exhale — directly stimulates the vagus nerve. That triggers the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system, the one responsible for rest, digestion, and recovery. The result is measurable within minutes: lower heart rate, lower cortisol, slower brainwaves, and a wider window of emotional tolerance. More on the science in the breathing blog →

Available in 63 languages including English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Swahili, and more.